Franchise generally means a right or privilege. It may refer to: Suffrage, the civil right to vote Jurisdictions used to be treated as property rights, and could be referred to as franchises. Franchising, a business method that involves licensing of trademarks and methods of doing business, such as: Chain store, retail outlets which share a brand and central management An exclusive right, for example to sell branded merchandise Media franchise, ownership of the characters and setting of a film, video game, book, etc., particularly in North American usage Rail franchising in Great Britain A...